Courtesy Desk: Turntable Report #082: Dancer, Donna Blue, Twelve Cubic Feet, Fleur
Hi!
Thanks for your patience as I put out a new record with my band Outer World (out now), prepare for a 2 week tour, churn out monthly radio shows, and try to keep my online record store afloat. Welcome to my first newsletter sent via Buttondown. I have really missed doing this, but I am a little out of practice so bear with me.
I would love to meet readers/listeners/customers in person, so for those living in the cities I am touring to at the end of the month, please come by and introduce yourself. Y’all have been the best part of a long 5 years.
In other news, I am running a huge sale currently with more than half of the records in my shop marked down 20% to 50% off. Once these records sell, they are gone for good to make way for new releases. I will also be shutting down my shop for two weeks while I am on the road, so buy now.
Happy Spring,
Tracy
Playlists/Radio:
March BNDCMPR Playlist/ April BNDCMPR Playlist - being added to almost daily
My giant Q1 2024 playlist / My Q2 playlist - being added to almost daily
Follow my semi regular radio show here - a new show will be coming later this week.
Dancer - 10 Songs I Hate About You (2024) Technical jangle from Scotland that will give you hope for the future of outsider pop music, the likes of which we have been waiting for since the demise of Life Without Buildings. Best of 2024 alert. In stock.
Pel Mel - Late, Late Show (Efficient Space) Late ‘70s minimal synth pop I would also describe as highly melodic lounge-funk from Australia. Their touchstones may have been aimed somewhere between new wave and the peak CBGBs punk, but they ended up with something much closer to the Marine Girls and Young Marble Giants. Another Best of 2024 alert and in stock.
Pleasure Mob/Soup Activist/Famous Mammals/Tia Rosa - S/T (Inscrutable) Martin Meyers (Ex Lumpy & the Dumpers) dropped four new releases this past Friday via his brand new label Inscrutable Records. All four records are brilliant DIY pop releases - all with carrying their own unique fingerprint. The fact that they were all unveiled on the same day should not only break some sort of DIY record for greatness on a single street date from the same label, but it is certainly headline news in my world. Coming to Courtesy Desk soon.
Klapper - High for No Reason (Mangel) Serious gothic cold-wave from Berlin that makes Anika’s far out similarly dour kraut-doom feel like a party in comparison. Music to break out your black, battle ready eyeliner to.
Kim Gordon - The Collective (Matador) Why didn’t the birth of rap metal start here and actually sound more like Godflesh falling into a vat of trap beats? Before Gordon, the only veteran musician I can remotely compare this masterful meld of abstract poetry and industrial thrashes radiating from the darkest corners of the imagination is Scott Walker. This is music’s answer to abstract expressionism whose action on the canvas has evolved into a sonic dirge we can take to the dancefloor. Sold out, awaiting a repress.
Office Dog - Spiel (New West Records) New Zealand’s Kane Strang takes a break from his solo work and expands into a powerhouse trio. Heroic distorted guitars and deft melancholic vocal melodies make for an intriguing partnership. Together they form a lace on concrete juxtaposition and it is an unforgettable, textural sound sculpture combination.
The Umbrellas - Fairweather Friend (Slumberland) Everything fans could hope for and more following a nearly perfect indiepop debut (my top record of 2021). From a distance it may seem like sublime jangle that has gained a bit of extra muscle and confidence with the passing years, but the real surprise comes from the achingly honest lyrics. The Umbrellas tell us the rose colored glasses of youth aren’t just off, they are broken. Their dazzling emotional depth reminds that an umbrella is a tactical walking stick as much as it is a shield in a stormy world. In stock.
Laetitia Sadier - Rooting for Love (Drag City) On her fifth solo album, Sadier embraces her inner mother goddess. Her hypnotic new age adjacent mantras of love and hope turns sociopolitical spirituality (not far from her Stereolab roots) into a commanding seduction. In stock.
Donna Blue - Into the Realm of Love (Snowstar) A record that sounds like a modern day sexy French Bond film? This is practically tailored made for Courtesy Desk, so I just had to import it. I am one of the few places in America to stock it...and there are just a few copies left. In Stock.
KCIDY - Quelque chose de bien (Vietnam) A ye-ye pop star strolling through the backlot of a movie studio where she finds herself passing a spaghetti western, an erotic film noire, an 80s-inspired technicolor teen adventure, and an epic love story set in central France among medieval and Renaissance architecture.
Lupo Citta - S/T (12XU) Chris Brokaw (Come/Codeine) adds another most excellent brooding band to his impressive resume, along with Sara Black (Kickball/Plain Jane) and Jenn Gori (the Lie-Ons/Pointing Greenas). Their masterful murk that makes me reimagine what Beat Happening might sound like dabbling in the dark arts. Sold out.
J. Mcfarlane’s Reality Guest - Whoopee (Night School) Julia Mcfarlane of the Twerps with Thomas Kernot leave no stone unturned: downtempo drum & bass, DC’s legendary go-go, atmospheric trip-hop, melancholy sambas, squishy electro lounge, and sultry hip hop grooves.
Liam Bailey - Zero Grace (Big Crown) A jaw dropping retro-infused reggae album who at its center is a talent that deserves to be as revered as Bob Marley, Lenny Kravitz, Marvin Gaye, and Amy Winehouse. In stock.
Itchy and the Nits - The Worst of Itchy and the Nits (Total Punk) RIYL Telstar/Todd-o-phonic, Rip Off, Estrus, and Australian primal garage punk records that get better with each listen. Coming Soon.
Halo Maud - Celebrate (Halo la uit/Heavenly) Cinematic ethereal dream pop from France - think Emiliana Torrini goes psychedelic retro-future with gorgeous swells of intensity.
Drahla - Angeltape (Captured Tracks) Heavy weight UK art rock haunted by a ghost with free jazz aspirations. In stock.
Dana Gavanski - LATE SLAP (Full Time Slap) If there is an Aldous Harding or Cate LeBon record in your collection, Gavanski should be there too. Her smooth, dive bombing melodies are like anxiety-erasing worry beads for the ears.
The BVs - Taking Pictures of Taking Pictures (Shelflife/Kliene Unterfrund Schallplatten) German jangle-folk not far from The Wake and The Field Mice.
Jane Weaver - Love in Constant Spectacle (Fire) Broadcast as a genre fans are likely already familiar with Weaver’s nearly flawless, discography. However if Weaver is a new to you name, think of silk resting on warm analog instruments with intoxicating whirs, bleeps, and bloops swirling carrying out into deep space. In stock soon.
Meril Wubslin - Faire Ca (Bongo Joe) Swiss avant garde folk-jazz that pulses, throbs, and hypnotizes with its cycles of tension and release. In stock.
Project Gemini - Colours & Light (Mr. Bongo) Mr. Bongo does it again! French Library music for crate digging fans of heavy funky percussion with a Soundcarriers lite-psych groove.
The Pheromoans - Wyrd Search (Upset the Rhythm) Rainy day post-punk from the UK. In stock
Radical Kitten - Uppercat (Cartelle/Modulor) French queer/feminist post punk turned up to 11.
Twelve Cubic Feet - Straight out of the Fridge (Sealed) Funky (dub-dipped) late ‘70s artful post-punk reissue EP from the UK that sounds so fresh it could have been recorded yesterday. Best of 2024 alert! Coming Soon.
Dorothy Carter - Waillee Waillee (Palto Flats) More of a better late than never share, this 2023 first ever reissue of the 1978 new age cosmic drone cult classic by a virtuoso of the zither/hammered dulcimer from NY is my Zen happy place. Her vocals float through each song as if sleepwalking in a dream state. A low-key stunner.
Love Child - Never Meant to Be : 1988 - 1993 (12XU) Three cheers for Gerard Cosloy for making this collection happen. There was nary a mixtape I made in the early ‘90s that didn’t include Love Child. They were on an even playing fields of greatness along with Sonic Youth, Blake Babies, the Simple Machines catalog, Yo La Tengo, Squirrel Bait and Pavement. Legends in more than just my mind, their out of print two LPs and singles with a handful of bonus rarities makes this a necessity for indie rocking obsessives and a 2024 best of alert. In stock.
Linda Smith - I So Liked Spring (Captured Tracks) Never have I wanted to give a stranger a lifetime achievement award more for downright inexplicably moving bedroom pop music for so many decades. This 1996 humble musical ode to poet Charlotte Mew reissued in 2024 are cashmere soft and makes for a perfect April soundtrack. Also this tape has to be a major influence on Mary Timony solo, right? PS: Smith is playing a handful of east coast tour dates this month.
Emajoy Tsege Maiam Gebru - Souvenirs (Mississippi) Composed and recorded between 1977 to 1985, this Ethiopian nun's heartbreaking songs of exile singing to a piano and captured on a boombox are so human and intimate that it makes you ache along with her.
Nikki and the Corvettes - S/T (Munster) Power pop tends to be a crowded playing field of mostly men by the early ‘80s, this all girl band brings hooks of The Romantics to the primal punk of The Ramones. If there was one band I could add to the Valley Girl soundtrack, this bubblegum pop version of MC5 would be it. An essential reissue to help bring some female energy to the dopey dude lyrics of bands like Milk ‘N’ Cookies. In stock.
Shelly Y Nueva Generacio - S/T (Munster) A wild night on the town with Janis Joplin and Neal Hefti; a powerhouse voice with swinging horns that would make Batman totally lose his cool on the dancefloor. In stock.
Paco Zambrano - y Su Combo / Traffic Sound - Meshkalina / Meshkalina (Vampi Soul) A Latin garage psych freakout song so perfect, you get a double dose of it with two different versions; both party ready and on splatter vinyl to boot. In stock.
Vanishing Twin - Life Drummer (Sub Pop) A Courtesy Desk favorite group delivers a rock solid post-punk anthem, then eases into what we know them better for, percussive riches transforming the idea of pop music into Dada friendly, experimental pop. WOW.
Jayson Green & the Jerk - Local Jerk/I Need Love 12” (DFA) Jay of the legendary hardcore band Orchid makes a cool club 12” hit single, one part damaged disco, one part satirical poke. This is my most listened to single of the year hands down. I love a record that sounds like a party I wish I was at. Sold out.
Don Melody Club - Zonder Pardon (Bongo Joe) Dutch disco ditching the ‘70s for something a little more Roxy Music sexy. In stock
En Attendant Ana - Magical Lies (Sub Pop) Sub Pop kicking off 2024 with some knock out singles! Shout out to Trouble in Mind Records for introducing the world to one of the best French indie pop groups out there, classy, timeless, and with heart melting melodies for miles.
Fleur - Tu Es Un Etre Parfait b/w Laisse-Moi Faire! 7” (Soundflat) A new killer single by yet another a Courtesy Desk favorite. I have stocked all of her releases to date and I am not about to stop now! French speaking heavy '60s-style garage rock backed by FUZZTASTIC guitars. Coming soon + I have a few of her older singles in stock too.
Vulture Feather - Merge Now in Friendship (Felte) Any band lineage descending from Baltimore’s long defunct Wilderness is sacred to me. Fans of Lungfish, do not sleep on this band. Their hypnotic riffs will rekindle the revelation of cosmic cycles that busted post-hardcore wide open. In stock.
Mini Dresses - S/T (Joy Void) We all know Caufield and Lira to be the masterminds behind Sweeping Promises, but did you know that in 2017 they had a band together called Mini Dresses? Have you ever wondered what these talented humans would sound like in a gauzy slowcore band with eggshell melodies and hazy reverb guitars that belong in a Twin Peaks epidsode? IT IS SO GREAT, in stock now, and an important stepping stone that brought us one of the best current American bands. In stock.
Courtesy Desk: Buy something every now and then from me, and I will be happy.